Information processing method

ABSTRACT

Method for generating information processing Systems wherein informative Containers and Contents are created, identified, stored, modeled, communicated, modified and deleted by creating, modifying or deleting Links. The whole information entered by the users and the information for describing the System takes the form of Links having identical sizes and stored by a Links Base. The Links can be provided with attributes, notably time attributes.

This application is a continuation of International ApplicationPCT/EP2006/067238 filed on Oct. 10, 2006, the content of which isherewith enclosed by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention concerns an information processing method, notablyfor identifying, storing, laying out, communicating, analyzing, editingand searching information, by means of digital information processingsystems.

STATE OF THE ART

Nowadays, information is segmented by many formats. The descriptioninformation of these formats, the meta-information, is also segmented bymany syntaxes and structures that are often not explicit and notaccessible. The multiplicity of the software applications required forprocessing these many formats segments the way in which the informationcan be used. These applications also segment the information because ofthe difficulty they have in sharing the information and meta-informationthey generate; sharing causes a duplication of the information and mostoften a duplication of one structure into another (copy-paste,import-export). This results in information systems with a high level ofredundancy, where the searching, the modifying and the integrity ofinformation are increasing more complicated to achieve. These formatsand applications change in time and are thus also segmented from oneversion to the next.

The relational database management system (RDBMS) in particularrepresents a typical case of information segmentation. An RDBMScomprises a suit of applications built over a relational database andallowing the information stored by the latter to be processed.

Two types of segmentation can be distinguished: vertical segmentation,or semantic segmentation, which expresses the difficulty of measuringthe interconnectedness of the information to one another, and horizontalsegmentation, which expresses the difficulty of measuring the evolutionof the information in time.

In the case of an RDBMS, the information is segmented vertically inlayers. The architecture of an RDBMS is divided into three main layers,subdivided into several sub-layers. They are presented hereafter fromthe lowest to the highest:

1. Resources:

-   -   the information is stored in a relational database,    -   it is organized in relational models,    -   it passes through an interface between the resources and the        business logic (also known as “object-relational mapping”)

2. Business logic:

-   -   the information is re-arranged in object models,    -   it is treated according to the code implementation, the rules of        the art,    -   it transits through an interface between the business logic and        the presentation,

3. Presentation:

-   -   the information relative to a task is regrouped in applications,        Web applications etc.    -   and finally, it is presented to the users by graphical, HTML,        applet etc. interfaces . . . .

These sub-layers make use of several design and analysis tools. Themeta-information generated by these design tools are segmented from theRDBMS. These design tools are poorly integrated, they do not or notreadily interact with one another, they are sophisticated, theirutilization is not homogenous and learning them is difficult.

Furthermore, the meta-information necessary for modeling the domainprocessed by the RDBMS is segmented, it is located: in the relationalmodel, in the object model, in the code implementation, and sometimeseven in the presentation sub-layers. Although the information stored inthe RDBMS can be easily manipulated, the meta-information, thoughclosely connected to this information, resides in the structure of theRDBMS and is much harder to modify or complete.

Vertical segmentation occurs also in the layout of the meta-information.It is limited to one or two levels of meta-modeling: themeta-information in turn cannot be easily arranged in a more globalmodel, as being itself information.

In the case of a RDBMS, the horizontal segmentation occurs in theversion management and the layer synchronization. When a RDBMS is to beput to production or installed, it is necessary to synchronize: thedata's initial state, the configuration files, the source code, the usedlibraries and frameworks, the versions and configurations of the designtools, the meta-information generated by the design tools, . . . . Olddata can most often be processed only with old versions of RDBMS. It isdifficult, or even impossible, for the system to revert to a priorstate.

Horizontal segmentation occurs also at the level of the layout ofinformation (and of meta-information) in time: temporal modeling is afunctionality that is complex to execute and badly integrated to theRDBMS.

One consequence of the segmentation is to render the RDBMS more and morestatic and complicated. The whole rests on a relational model alreadypoorly suited to reorganization, and where the information is segmentedfrom the meta-information (from the relational model). Reorganizing theinformation results in substantial and badly controllable modificationson the other layers. There is no design “meta-tool” for analyzing allthe dependencies and connections between the layers. It is thennecessary to end a complete analysis of the processed domain beforebeginning the development of the upper layers. The meta-information isthus introduced by the RDBMS architect when designing the base; the useris bound by the choices made at that moment in time. In other words, itis necessary to freeze the relational model, which will condition allthe upper layers and hence the applications for the final user.

It is difficult to reorganize cleanly part of the structure, or moresimply to make a change, without breaking the fragile balance betweenthe layers. The solution often chosen is adding (columns, tables,attributes, classes, methods, code, graphical objects, configurationfiles, . . . ). Consequently, a significant part of the meta-informationbecomes orphaned. The result is an information system that is rigid andstatic, ever heavier and more expensive to control, to maintain and todevelop, and which freezes in increasing complexity instead of having asystem that evolves by transforming.

In a relational database, if one wishes to search the information“Richard”, the information specifying in which tables the search is tobe performed is not explicit, the meta-information (the informativecontainer) is segmented from the information (the informative content).The data “Richard” finds itself duplicated in several tables withcompletely different meanings (first name, family name, French word,person, company name, . . . ) that depend on a frozen meta-informationdifficult to verify and modify. One knows for example that “Rowling” isa writer's name only because it is stored in a field “author name”defined in a table of writers when the base was designed. Similarly, thegraph of relations between the tables constitutes implicitmeta-information. The fact that the name “Rowling” in the “writer” tableis referenced by the work “Harry Potter” in the “book” table is knownonly because these two records share a common identifier, in this case awriter's number, for example an integer such as [1356]. The relationalmodel indicates only the columns of the two tables that must be put inrelation, and the properties of the relation; the links themselves,between each author and each book, are not explicitly stored.Furthermore, it is generally not known since when the relation between“author” and “book” is valid, nor since when the reference between“Harry Potter” and “Rowling” is valid, nor since when “Rowling” and“Harry Potter” are valid.

Using links or relations that are explicit, qualified and provided forexample with temporal attributes, makes it possible to solve some of theproblems relative to the segmentation of information. To this effect,WO00/29980 describes an associative model of data storage based onrelations between entities. The information is stored simultaneously inthe entities and in the relations. The relations can be provided withattributes, including a date from which a relation is valid. Thenon-valid relations are not deleted but rendered inactive. The design ofa database according to this model is not very intuitive; theinformation is shared between the entities and the relations. Thestorage model remains difficult to modify and develop.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,132 describes a non-relational database system(“data container”) enabling an explicit description of the links betweenthe objects. The links are provided with qualifiers.

A somewhat similar solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,992,which also uses an explicit description of the relations.

A data model using explicit and qualified links between entities is alsodescribed in US2003/0187826, which applies to monetary accounts. Theinformation is essentially stored in the entities.

EP583108 is another example of database based on relations betweenentities. GB2293667 and WO2004/099941 describe non-relational databasesystems comprising explicit and qualified links between entities. Thedata can however be stored only in hierarchical manner.

The RDF model, described on www.w3.org/rdf, was initially designed toallow information accessible on the Web to be structured and efficientlyindexed by means of resources represented by triplets. One triplet cancontain the references of three triplets, including its own.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,556 describes, notably in the introduction, temporaldatabases wherein the temporal attributes are associated to differentrecords.

US2005/0055385 is another example of document describing temporaldatabases. The method allows the table's state to be consulted at anytime in the past.

In these known systems, the information is stored, at least partly, intables or similar entities. The definition of the tables is generallyfrozen and widely conditions the information storage and searchingpossibilities.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to propose an information processingmethod free from the limitations of the known methods, notably free fromthe problems associated with vertical and horizontal segmentation of theinformation.

Another aim is to propose an alternative to the relational model, freefrom the limitations of the relational model concerning notably themodeling of complex structures and the different processing ofmeta-information.

Another aim is to reduce the redundancy of information, to identify andaccelerate the speed of processing, communicating and searching theinformation.

Another aim is to propose an information processing system allowing allthe information to be stored and processed, including themeta-information of the stored models and the information necessary forcompletely describing said system.

These aims are achieved notably by means of an information processingmethod, wherein all the processed information is identified by aplurality of Links,

each Link being represented by a data structure comprising at least oneunique identifier specifying said Link and three references on theunique Link-identifiers, so as to connect directly or indirectly all theLinks to one another.

This method thus uses only links, and no data, for defining all theinformation which is processed.

The information identified by the Links and processed by the method alsoincludes the meta-information that is thus not stored and processedseparately as in the prior art solutions.

The inventive method preferably allows information to be created,identified, stored, laid-out, communicated, searched, analyzed, modifiedand deleted by creating, identifying, laying out, searching, analyzing,modifying and deleting Links in a Links Base or in severalintercommunicating Links Bases.

The conventional techniques process information by processing data andreferences onto these data, whereas the method processes Linksconnecting Links to one another. The “Link” of the method, spelled witha capital letter, is a particular data structure that must not beconfused with a simple reference nor with a hyperlink. The “inventiveLinks” connect Links but contain information going beyond a simplereference to a content.

In a preferred embodiment, each Link represents at least one uniquelyidentified Content and references three other Links correspondingrespectively to a Container of said Link, to a ParentContent and to aChildContent the Link serves to connect.

According to the method, a set of information (including themeta-information, in other words the informative contents andcontainers) is defined by Links connecting Links and some of whichrepresent data.

The method does not segment information but connects it, the informationis no longer segmented from the meta-information. The information andthe meta-information are hence no longer processed in a differentiatedmanner.

All the informative containers and contents are represented in the sameway, with the aid of Links.

The method thus only manipulates data structures of fixed size, theLinks, which makes it possible to optimize access to the information.

Certain Links can correspond implicitly to data. For example: it ispossible to have identifiers of a set of Links correspond to ASCII orUNICODE characters or to the keys of a key-value dictionary whose valuesdesignate one or another data. One word can then be defined by a set ofLinks identifying a character or by a Link identifying a record in aword dictionary.

The Links can reference explicitly external data to synchronize aninformation processing system based on the method with prior techniques,for example existing data maintained by systems of files, externalapplications, databases, Web servers . . . .

The method allows information processing systems to be generated wherethe whole information entered by the users is represented in the form ofLinks and where the system itself is auto-described by Links. Thesystem's structure is completely defined by itself. Such a system canmodify and improve its own definition, it can also be identified by aLink. The Link connects the whole of the information to each other,there is no vertical segmentation anymore.

The Link represents a new store unit, the information processing isperformed by processing the Links. In a preferred embodiment, by addingtemporal attributes to the Links, the temporal management of theinformation, of the meta-information and of the system itself can beconsiderably simplified. The method does not segment information in timebut processes the whole information in different temporal contexts. TheLink's temporal attributes allow a simple temporal indexation of all theinformation processed by the method. There is no horizontal segmentationanymore; it is possible to revert to a prior state of the system simplyby activating the Links valid at the chosen time.

The inventive method rests notably on the following observations andpostulates:

In order to resolve the segmentation problems, the method is based on areassessment of the notion of information: what is information? Forexample, is the data “Richard” bearer of information? In a givencultural context, the data “Richard” can be connected to differentinformation: to a word; to a first name; to a French substantivedenoting a rich person; to a famous person; etc.

But in a different cultural context, if “Richard” cannot be connected toany model or to other information, it can lose all its meaning and carryno information. Thus, information has no existence in and of itself, itexists only in relation to other information, only through the links ithas to other information. And this “other information” itself alsoexists in relation to other information . . . . The method posits afirst postulate:

The information resides in the links and not in the data.

How is information processed? Time management is essential. The signalsperceived by our senses, the progression of our reflections and thetrain of our thoughts will create connections, will create links, willawaken old connections, will reactivate old links. If we were incapableof keeping trace of our reflections, of taking up our train of though,of calling upon our memory, we would then be incapable of processinginformation. If we were incapable of making hypotheses thanks to ourimagination, of programming events, of simulating scenarios, ofactivating links in the future, we would then be incapable of processinginformation. The method posits a second postulate:

The information resides in the evolution of the links in time.

Information is expressed, transmitted, understood through gesture,through movement. In other words, information is expressed by sequencesof links that are made and unmade in time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Examples of embodiments of the invention are indicated in thedescription illustrated by the attached figures wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a Content.

FIG. 2 illustrates a Container.

FIG. 3 illustrates a Container and two Contents.

FIG. 4 illustrates a Link.

FIG. 5 illustrates a Link and its reference on its Container.

FIG. 6 illustrates the Link's re-entrance faculty.

FIG. 7 illustrates a Link representing a Container.

FIG. 8 illustrates the reference C of a Link 1 on its Container 4, thereference P on a ParentContent 2 and the reference E on a ChildContent3.

FIG. 9 illustrates a particular Link, called Relation.

FIG. 10 illustrates a Relation and its Contents.

FIG. 11 illustrates the RelationsContainer 5 and a Relation.

FIG. 12 illustrates a Relation associating a ParentContainer 6 to aChildContainer 7.

FIG. 13 illustrates the Links 8 of a Relation 9 connecting theParentContents 10 to the ChildContents 12.

FIG. 14 illustrates the ParentRelations 15 of a Container 14.

FIG. 15 illustrates the ChildRelations 17 of a Container 1.

FIG. 16 illustrates the recursion of the RelationsContainer 18.

FIG. 17 illustrates a Relation RC 22.

FIG. 18 illustrates an arbitrary Model.

FIG. 19 illustrates the adjunction of a Content 36 in a Model.

FIG. 20 illustrates the role of the Relations RC.

FIG. 21 illustrates an implicit representation of characters throughLinks.

FIG. 22 illustrates an implicit representation of the keys of adictionary through Links.

FIG. 23 illustrates an explicit representation of the records of a tablethrough Links.

FIG. 24 illustrates an explicit representation of data integrated in theLink structure.

FIG. 25 illustrates different kinds of storing of the Link's mainattributes.

FIG. 26 illustrates the three operations of editing (creating, modifyingand deleting) information by activating and/or deactivating Links.

FIG. 27 illustrates a Relation 83 associating a Relation 44 to aContainer 84.

FIG. 28 illustrates a Relation 85 associating a Relation 86 to aRelation 87.

FIG. 29 illustrates a System's re-entrance faculty.

FIG. 30 illustrates the first Link of a 9-Link Kernel.

FIG. 31 illustrates the re-entrance of a 9-Link Kernel.

FIG. 32 illustrates the re-entrance of a 9-Link Kernel seen differently.

FIG. 33 illustrates a 9-Link Kernel still incomplete.

FIG. 34 illustrates a 9-Link Kernel still incomplete.

FIG. 35 illustrates a 9-Link Kernel still incomplete.

FIG. 36 illustrates a 9-Link Kernel still incomplete.

FIG. 37 illustrates a complete 9-Link Kernel.

FIG. 38 illustrates a complete 9-Link Kernel where each Container andeach Content is represented by a Link.

FIG. 39 illustrates a complete 9-Link Kernel without its diagrammaticrepresentation.

FIG. 40 illustrates diagrammatically a simple Model.

FIG. 41 illustrates the Links to be added to the 9-Link Kernel torepresent the Model of FIG. 40.

FIG. 42 redrafts the Model of FIG. 40 by illustrating theParentContainer and the ChildContainer of the three Relations A, Z andR.

FIG. 43 illustrates the possible cardinalities of a Relation.

FIG. 44 illustrates a simplified diagrammatic representation of the9-Link Kernel.

FIG. 45 illustrates the same 9-Link Kernel but depleted of anintermediary Container TRel.

FIG. 46 illustrates the re-entrance of a 14-Link Kernel.

FIG. 47 illustrates the first Link 105 of a 14-Link Kernel.

FIG. 48 illustrates the RelationsContainer R of the 14-Link Kernel.

FIG. 49 illustrates the RelationsContainer R containing the twoRelations RC-MC and RC-R already created.

FIG. 50 illustrates the adjunction of the Relations CP and CE necessaryfor defining the RelationsContainer.

FIG. 51 illustrates a complete 14-Link Kernel.

FIG. 52 illustrates a complete 14-Link Kernel where each Container andContent is represented by the id of the Link identifying them.

FIG. 53 illustrates a complete 14-Link Kernel without its diagrammaticrepresentation.

FIG. 54 illustrates a simplified representation of the 14-Link Kernelrepresenting the System “S”.

FIG. 55 illustrates the creation of an IntraSystem “iS” and of aMetaSystem “mS”.

FIG. 56 illustrates a 44-Link Kernel based on an enrichment of the14-Link Kernel.

FIG. 57 illustrates a simplified representation of the 44-Link Kernelbefore the creation of a Model A-B.

FIG. 58 illustrates a simple Model A-B.

FIG. 59 illustrates a table of possible Links allowing the Links usefulfor the creation of the Model A-B to be stored.

FIG. 60 illustrates the set of Links added sequentially to the tableonce the creation of the Model A-B has been finished.

FIG. 61 illustrates a decluttered representation of the 44-Link Kernelafter the creation of the Model A-B.

FIG. 62 illustrates an example of meta-modeling by simple over-grading.

FIG. 63 illustrates the detail of the Links necessary for representingthe example of FIG. 62.

FIG. 64 illustrates an example of meta-modeling by multipleover-grading.

FIG. 65 illustrates an example of meta-modeling by assembly.

FIG. 66 illustrates an example of intra-modeling by multipleinheritance.

FIG. 67 illustrates the detail of the Links necessary for representingthe example of FIG. 66.

FIG. 68 illustrates an example of intra-modeling by simple inheritance.

FIG. 69 illustrates an example of intra-modeling by transformation.

FIG. 70 illustrates the detail of the Links necessary for representingthe example of FIG. 69.

FIG. 71 illustrates an example of intra-modeling by segmentation.

FIG. 72 illustrates an example of semantic marking of information.

FIG. 73 illustrates a simple Selection “A”.

FIG. 74 illustrates an example of Logic Selection.

FIG. 75 illustrates a different notation for representing the example ofFIG. 74.

FIG. 76 illustrates an example of creation of a rule with the aid ofLogic Selections.

FIG. 77 illustrates diagrammatically a plurality of time cursorsallowing the state of a System 159 at different instants to be verified.

EXAMPLES OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION Terminology

Content: A Content, illustrated by FIG. 1, designates an element fromamong a collection of elements. A Content can be represented by a Link.

Container: A Container designates a collection of elements, it containsContents. FIG. 2 illustrates a Container. FIG. 3 illustrates a Containerand its two Contents. A Container can be represented by a Link.

Link: A Link represents at least one Content, it is only identified by aunique identifier, id (FIG. 4). It contains a reference C on itsContainer (FIG. 5). A Link as a re-entrance faculty, it can be containedby itself, so that the reference C specifying its Container correspondsto its own identifier id (FIG. 6). Some Links represent also a Container(FIG. 7). A Link comprises two other references (FIG. 8) that connecttwo Contents: a reference P on a ParentContent 2 and a reference E on aChildContent 3. The Link thus connects two identified Contents and iscontained by a Container also identified. It thus contains moreinformation than a vector or a branch in a graph, each Link has anadditional property: a reference on its Container, i.e. on another Link.

ParentContent: see Link.

ChildContent: see Link.

Relation: A Link can represent a Relation (FIG. 9). A Relation is aContainer, its Contents are Links (FIG. 10). The Relations are containedin a Container (FIG. 11), called RelationsContainer 5. A Relationassociates two Containers (FIG. 12), a ParentContainer 6 to aChildContainer 7. The Links 8 (FIG. 13) of a Relation 9 connect aParentContent 10 of the ParentContainer 11 to a ChildContent 12 of theChildContainer 13

ParentContainer: see Relation.

ChildContainer: see Relation.

ParentRelation: A Container 14 (FIG. 14) is defined by one or severalRelations 15, called ParentRelations. The ParentRelations of a Containerare the Relations that designate this Container as being theirParentContainer (via the Relation CP).

ChildRelation: The ChildRelations of a Container 16 (FIG. 15) are theRelations 17 that designate this Container as being their ChildContainer(via the Relation CE).

RelationsContainer: A RelationsContainer 18 (FIG. 16) contains anddefines Relations 20. It is defined in recursive manner byParentRelations 19 that this RelationsContainer precisely serve todefine. A RelationsContainer is defined by at least two ParentRelations:the Relation CP and the Relation CE.

Relation CP: A Relation CP is a ParentRelation of a RelationsContainerthat defines the ParentContainer of a Relation.

Relation CE: A Relation CE is a ParentRelation of a RelationsContainerthat defines the ChildContainer of a Relation.

Relation RC: Some Relations (FIG. 17), called Relation RC, serve torepresent a Container 21. This Container 21 is identified by theidentifier id of said Relation RC 22. The Contents 23 of this Containerare identified by the identifier id of each of the Links 24 of saidRelation RC, said Links being called Affiliation Links 24.

Affiliation Links: These are the Links 24 contained by a Relation RC 22.

Model: A Model is a set of Containers associated by Relations (FIG. 18).

Links Base: A Links Base is a machine capable of storing, notablycreating, identifying, indexing, inserting, moving, modifying, deleting,searching, analyzing and sharing Links in one or several Linkcollections, and capable of distributing, exchanging and synchronizingLinks with other Links Bases connected in networks.

Kernel: A Kernel is a particular lay-out of a set of Links that allowsbootstrapping of a self-described, self-sustaining and re-enteringSystem.

System: A System is an information processing system implemented by themethod and based on the processing of Links. A System is entirelyrepresented by the Links stored in one or several Links Bases. A Systemis implemented by a computer program executed for example by a computer,an embedded system, an information processing peripheral, etc.

Re-Entering Initial Link: The Re-Entering Initial Link (LIRE) is theLink identifying a System based on a Kernel.

IntraSystem: System contained by System.

MetaSystem: System containing other Systems.

A Link is uniquely identified in the frame of one or several Links Basesof the set of Link Basis implemented for: an appropriate equipment, orseveral equipments interconnected by a network, or severalinterconnected networks, or several domains of a network of networks.

The method organizes and models the information by creating Models. FIG.18 illustrates a Model assembling six Containers by five Relations. TheContainer “Person” 25 is defined by three ParentRelations:

-   -   the Relation “name” 26, whose ChildContainer is the Container        “Name” 27,    -   the Relation “first name” 28, whose ChildContainer is the        Container “First Name” 29,    -   the Relation “address” 30, whose ChildContainer is the Container        “Address” 31,

and the Container “Address” 31 is defined by two ParentRelations:

-   -   the Relation “place” 32, whose ChildContainer is the Container        “Place” 33,    -   the Relation “street” 34, whose ChildContainer is the Container        “Street” 35.

Entering information into the System is achieved by creating Links.Generally, a Container creates a new Content by creating a Link for eachof its required ParentRelations, called “mandatory”. In FIG. 19, theContainer “Address” 31 creates a new Content 36, namely a new address,by creating a Link 37 resp. 38 for each of its ParentRelations 32 resp.34. But how can the Contents 36, 39, 40 and their respective Containers31, 33, 35 be represented by Links?

The method can represent a Container and its Contents by a particularRelation, called Relation RC. In FIG. 20, the Containers “Address” 31,“Place” 33 and “Street” 35 are identified by three Relations RC. Hence,the Contents 36, 39 and 40 are identified by Links. If the Link 39represents for example the Place Paris, how can the data “PARIS”actually be represented by Links?

In a first embodiment illustrated by FIG. 21, the Container “Character”represented by the Relation RC 41 implicitly makes its Contents (the idof its Links) correspond to UNICODE characters, here P, A, R, I and S.The Container “Word” represented by the Relation RC 42 creates theContent 43 which identifies the word “PARIS” through Links of itsParentRelation “characters” 44. The Container “Place” 33 connects itsContent 39 to the word “PARIS” 43 through the Link 45 of itsParentRelation “word” 46. Thus, all the Links contained by “Character”41 correspond to a set of characters, in other words Link identificationzone (part of the possible values of id) is reserved to the codes of aset of characters.

In a second embodiment illustrated by FIG. 22, the Container “Word”represented by the Relation RC 42 implicitly makes its Contents (the idof its Links) correspond to the keys 48 of a dictionary 47 whose values49 represent words. The word “PARIS” is identified by the id of the Link43, this id being identical to the key 48 identifying the value “PARIS”.Hence, a set of Links corresponds implicitly to a set of values, that isto say the distinct words of a dictionary. A Link identification zone isreserved for the keys of the dictionary.

In a third embodiment illustrated by FIG. 23, the Container “Word” 42explicitly makes its Contents be referenced through a reference K 50 putin relation with the column K 51 of an external Table 52 which storesthe data “PARIS” in another column 53. An explicit reference requiresthe adjunction of an additional attribute 50 to the Link. An explicitreferences makes it possible to open the System onto external datastructures and to synchronize the System with existing data maintainedexternally: an application, a file system, a database, a conventionalRDBMS, etc. An explicit reference also allows the information maintainedby the System outwards, for example towards a Web server, to besynchronized.

In a fourth embodiment illustrated by FIG. 24, the Contents of “Word” 42explicitly store the data “PARIS” in a field 54 of the structure of theLink provided to this effect. Different types of data such as numbers,memory addresses etc. could be stored explicitly in the Links.

The Link structure can be provided with other reserved attributes,depending on the specific implementation of the method. For example:attributes for typifying the Links, for marking certain Links as being“static” or “system”, for indicating whether the Link is active or not,for indicating access rights, for protecting certain Links against beingaccidentally deleted or modified, for managing sorting conditions, formanaging coefficients of solicitation frequency, of trust andplausibility, of synaptic weight and/or ranking indices of the Link. Inone embodiment, it is also possible to create Links of the “fuzzy” typewith a coefficient indicating the intensity of the Link. A coefficientof 1.0 indicates for example an established connection whilst acoefficient of 0.2 indicates a connection between two Contents that isonly probable. Other complex Links, for example differentiating orintegrating Links, or conditional Links depending on a conditioninternal or external to the System, can also be defined in the frame ofthe invention. Other attributes useful for managing multiple Selections,for their propagation of Links to Links, could be part of the Linkstructure. Certain attributes are stored, others exist as soon as a Linkis loaded in the memory.

By adding temporal attributes to the Link, it is possible to determinethe instant when the connection between the ParentContent and theChildContent is activated (beginning of activation) and/or the instantwhen the connection is no longer activated (end of activation) and/or todetermine a period of activation.

FIG. 25 shows different forms of storing of the main attributesconstituting the Link structure. A Link 55 is preferably a datastructure of fixed size 56, easier and more efficient to process and tostore. The Link structure is constituted of a unique identifier id 57,of a reference on the unique identifier of a ParentContent P 58, of areference on the unique identifier of a ChildContent E 59, and of areference on the unique identifier of its Container C 60. Preferably,the Link further contains at least a beginning of activation In 61 andat least an end of activation Out 62, as well as possibly otherattributes 63 reserved for a specific implementation. The uniqueidentifier of the Link and its three references (ParentContent,ChildContent and Container) can be represented by four distinct fieldsor by any appropriate data structure with any number of fields,including by triplets (FIG. 25-D), vectors (FIG. 25-E), etc.

A complete system is described by a collection of Links that regroupsall the information in a unique structure, extremely simple. Theinformation is accessed by a set of simple requests, very repetitive,similar, addressed to the Links Base. It is thus possible to make highlyoptimized information processing machines. To improve the processingefficiency of the Links Base, these attributes are preferably ofnumerical type, they store integers, and some are automatically indexed.

The temporal attributes can be defined (FIG. 25-B) by a beginning ofactivation In 61 and a period 64. It is also possible to store severaldisjointed activation periods. The Links can be divided into two types68 (FIG. 25-C), “in” and “out” 66. The Contents field P/E 69 indicates areference P on a ParentContent if the type is “in” 66 or it indicates areference E on a ChildContent if the type is “out” 66. The field C 70references the Container C if the type is “in” 66. The field Time 71indicates the beginning of activation In if the type is “in” 66, and theend of activation Out of the Link if the type is “out” 66. Anotherembodiment illustrated by FIG. 25-D indicates the attribute 72 in afield, and its value 73 in another.

Editing information consists in making and unmaking Links. For example,deleting a Content x generally consists in:

-   -   1. unmaking all the Links in each of the ParentRelations of its        Container whose reference P points this Content x,    -   2. unmaking all the Links of each of the ChildRelations of its        Container whose reference E points this Content x,    -   3. unmaking the Link representing this Content x.

However, instead of definitively deleting a Link, the method preferablyuses the Link's temporal attributes to determine the Link's period ofactivation. To illustrate the three editing operations, namely creating,modifying and deleting information, FIG. 26 partly takes over the Modelof FIG. 18, where the Container “Person” 25 is associated to the Content“Address” 31 by the Relation “address” 30. At the time t0 (FIG. 26-A), aPerson 75 and three Addresses 76, 77 and 78 are already entered. ThePerson 75 is connected to the Address 76 by the Link 79. At the time t1(FIG. 26-B), a new Person 80 is created, and at the time t2 (FIG. 26-C)it is connected to the Address 77 by the Link 81. At the time t3 (FIG.26-D), a modify operation is performed, the Person 80 changes Address:the Link 81 is deactivated, which breaks the connection with the Address77, and a new Link 82 is created to establish a new connection with theAddress 78. At the time t4 (FIG. 26-E), a delete operation is performed,the Person 75 is deleted: the Link 79 as well as the Link 75 identifyingthe Person are deactivated.

In the example illustrated by FIG. 21, the Container “Word” 42 isdefined by the ParentRelation “characters” 44 on the Container“Character” 41. The Content “Paris” 43 is constituted of a series ofLinks connecting the letters P, A, R, I and S, but the order of theletters is not indicated. FIG. 27 illustrates a possibility ofrepresenting the order of the letters by the Relation “order” 83 on theContainer “Number” 84. It is said that a Relation associates twoContainers, but a Relation is also a Container. The Relation “order” 83associates, for example, a Relation (“characters” 44) to a Container(“Number” 84). Another example, illustrated by FIG. 28, shows a Relation85 that associates two Relations 86 and 87. In this case, the Relation85 will be said to be a ParentRelation of the Relation 86 and aChildRelation of the Relation 87.

Deleting or unmaking a Link x of a Relation generally consists in:

-   -   1. unmaking all the Links of each of the ParentRelations of this        Relation whose reference P points this Link x,    -   2. unmaking all the Links of each of the ChildRelations of this        Relation whose reference E points this Link x,    -   3. unmaking the Link x.

A Kernel allows a so-called self-described, self-sustaining andre-entering information processing System to be used. A System isself-described because it uses no element external to itself to defineitself, it processes Links and is defined by Links. A System isself-sustaining because it is capable of improving the Models it createsas well as to improve itself, i.e. to improve and enrich the Model fromwhich it is booted, called Kernel. Hence, the System can cause theKernel to increase towards more sophisticated versions and a secondgeneration of Kernel to be introduced. A System 88, illustrated in FIG.29, is re-entering because it represents a set 89 of Containers 90, itis itself a Container 91, and it contains itself 92. The System itselfis uniquely identified by a Link. The particular structure of the Linkand the creation of Kernels are thus strongly linked.

Creation of a Nine-Link Kernel

The System is represented by a ContainersContainer called theMetaContainer MC. In the beginning (FIG. 30), the MetaContainer MC isthe only information, it is the first Link 93 of the Kernel, it isidentified with the id “1” 94. The re-entrance faculty (FIG. 31) of theLink 95 gives the MetaContainer MC the faculty of containing itself orof being contained by itself (FIG. 32); but it does not have knowledgeof itself, it does not know that it contains itself, it does not existyet. According to the first postulate, any information exists only inrelation with other information. If there is only one information, thisonly information then represents a relation and at the same time theinformation said relation serves to connect. Thus, the MetaContainer MCrepresents a Relation and simultaneously the Containers that saidRelation serves to associate. And a Relation serving to represent aContainer is a Relation RC, whose MetaContainer MC (FIG. 33) is aRelation RC 96, it is re-named Relation MC/RC. A Relation RC 97 (FIG.34) associates two Containers: the ParentContainer is the Relation RCitself 98 and the ChildContainer is the Container 99 of the Relation RC97 (the Container of the Relation MC/RC is itself since it containsitself), so that 100 the ParentContent of a Affiliation Link referencesthe id of this same Affiliation Link, and so that 101 the ChildContentof a Affiliation Link references the id of the Link identifying theRelation RC. The first Link of the Kernel 93, called Re-Entering InitialLink, can now be totally informed 102. The Re-Entering Initial Linkidentifies the System used by this Kernel.

But the information specifying which is the ParentContainer 98 and whichis the ChildContainer 99 of the Relation MC/RC 97 is not explicitlydescribed, the Kernel is not yet totally self-described. At least eightLinks are required to express the missing information.

The Relation MC/RC is a Container which contains a Relation (itself),the Relation MC/RC thus represents the Kernel's RelationsContainer. Atleast two ParentRelations are necessary to a RelationsContainer todefine its Relations: the Relation CP which designates theParentContainer and the Relation CE which designates the ChildContainerof a Relation. FIG. 35 illustrates the adjunction of the Relation CP,identified by the Link “2”. FIG. 36 illustrates the adjunction of theRelation CE, identified by the Link “3”. The System'sRelationsContainer, the Relation MC/RC, now contains three Relations:itself (Link “1”), the Relation CP (Link “2”) and the Relation CE (Link“3”). These three Relations are recursively defined by the Relations CPand CE which specify for each of them the ParentContainer and theChildContainer they must associate, i.e. the adjunction of six furtherLinks illustrated by FIG. 37:

-   -   the Link “4” indicates to the Relation MC/RC that its        ParentContainer is the Relation MC/RC,    -   the Link “5” indicates to the Relation CP that its        ParentContainer is the Relation MC/RC,    -   the Link “6” indicates to the Relation CE that its        ParentContainer is the Relation MC/RC,    -   the Link “7” indicates to the Relation MC/RC that its        ChildContainer is the Relation MC/RC,    -   the Link “8” indicates to the Relation CP that its        ChildContainer is the Relation MC/RC,    -   the Link “9” indicates to the Relation CE that its        ChildContainer is the Relation MC/RC.

The attributes of each Link are totally informed (FIG. 38). Theelementary nine-Link Kernel has all the described properties, it isself-described, self-sustaining and re-entering. FIG. 39 illustrates thenine-Link Kernel without the diagrammatic representation illustratingthe Relations, everything is described solely with the aid ofinterconnected Links.

It is already possible to create simple Models, such as that illustratedby FIG. 40: a Container A associated to a Container Z by a Relation R,the Content a is connected to the Content z by the Link r. FIG. 41illustrates the Links that must be added to the nine-Link Kernel todescribe the Containers of this Model. The RelationsContainer MC/RCcreates three Relations identified by the id A, Z and R. The Relations Aand Z are Relations RC, they represent the Containers A and Z. The Links“21”, “22” and “23” of the Relation CP indicate the ParentContainer ofeach of the three Relations A, Z and R. The Links “31”, “32” and “33” ofthe Relation CE indicate the ChildContainer of each of the threeRelations A, Z and R. FIG. 42 redrafts the Model by illustrating theParentContainer and the ChildContainer of the three Relations A, Z andR. FIG. 42 also illustrates the Links that must be added to define theContents of this Model: the Link a identifies a Content of A, the Link zidentifies a Content of Z and the Link r connects these two Contents.The Contents and Containers, i.e. the information (including themeta-information), are only described by Links.

The nine-Link Kernel is self-sustaining, it is capable of improving andenriching its own definition by creating new Containers and newRelations. Furthermore, it must be enriched with certain properties toreally allow the information to be modeled. The definition of theRelationsContainer MC/RC can be enriched with new Relations on newContainers in order to make the Relations' properties more precise, suchas for example, for a Relation “X”:

the names of the Relation “X”,

-   -   by a Relation “Parentname” on the Container “RelationName”,        indicating the name of the Relation “X” as seen from its        ParentContainer,    -   by a Relation “Childname” on the Container “RelationName”,        indicating the name of the Relation “X” seen from its        ChildContainer,

the cardinality of the Relation “X”,

-   -   by a Relation “cardinality” on the Container “Cardinality”,        indicating whether:        -   the Relation “X” is “FromOneToOne”, whose ParentContent and            ChildContent referenced by each of its Links is different            (FIG. 43-A),        -   the Relation “X” is “FromOneToMany”, whose ChildContent of            each of its Links is different and whose ParentContent is            indifferent (FIG. 43-B),        -   the Relation “X” is “FromManytoOne”, whose ParentContent of            each of its Links is different and whose ChildContent is            indifferent (FIG. 43-C),        -   the Relation “X” is “FromManytoMany”, whose ParentContent            and ChildContent of each of its Links is indifferent (FIG.            43-D),    -   by a Relation “mandatory” on a “Boolean” Container, indicating        whether the Relation “X” must create one or several Links for        each of the Contents of its ParentContainer,

the behavior of the Relation “X”,

-   -   by a Relation “inheritance” on a “Boolean” Container, indicating        whether the ParentContents of the Relation “X”, in case they        also represent Containers, inherit the Relation “X”,    -   by a Relation “constant” on a “Boolean” Container, indicating        whether, during the creation of a new ParentContent, the Links        of the Relation “X” constantly connect one or several        ChildContents,    -   by a Relation “by default” on a “Boolean” Container, indicating        whether, during the creation of a new ParentContent, the Links        of the Relation “X” connect by default one or several        ChildContents,    -   by a Relation “range” on a Container “Range”, indicating the        visibility of the Relation “X” (system, private, public . . . ),    -   by a Relation “semantics” on a Container “Semantics”, indicating        the semantics of the Relation “X” (is one, is composed of, . . .        ),    -   by a Relation “composed Parents” on a Container “Composition”,        indicating the cardinality rules with other ParentRelations of        the ParentContainer of the Relation “X”,    -   by a Relation “composed Children” on a Container “Composition”,        indicating the cardinality rules with other ChildRelations of        the ChildContainer of the Relation “X”,

ordering or sorting information,

-   -   by a Relation “entering number” on a Container “Number” to        indicate the order of indicating of the Relation “X” among the        other ParentRelations when a new Content is entered,    -   by a Relation “order” on a Container “Number” to indicate the        order of the Relation “X” among the other ParentRelations to        reconstitute an information structure,    -   by a Relation “order” associating the Relation “X” to the        Container “Number” to indicate the order of the ChildContents        referenced by the Links of the Relation “X” (see FIG. 27),

etc.

The nine-Link Kernel can be depleted, in other words complexified,whilst remaining identical as to its functionality. FIG. 44 illustratesa simplified diagrammatic representation of the nine-Link Kernel, eachof the three Relations MC/RC, CP and CE containing three Links. FIG. 45represents this same Kernel, but depleted of an intermediary Container“TRel” which regroups a second time all the Kernel's Relations beforedefining them by the Relations CP and CE. Five Relations each containingfive Links, i.e. twenty-five Links instead of nine, are necessary, hencea depletion of the Kernel.

Creation of a Fourteen-Link Kernel

In the beginning, there is the Containers' Container, called theMetaContainer MC (FIG. 46), it is at the same time Container 103 andContent 104, but it does not have knowledge of itself, it does not knowthat it contains itself, it does not exist yet. According to the firstpostulate, any information exists only in relation with otherinformation. The only possible ParentRelation, allowing theMetaContainer MC to be defined, is the Relation the MetaContainer MC canhave with itself. FIG. 47 illustrates the first Relation, calledRelation RC-MC, it is a Relation RC. A Relation RC associates twoContainers, so that the ChildContainer it associates to theParentContainer is the latter's Container, so that each of itsAffiliation Links indicates to the ParentContent to which Container itbelongs. Hence, the first Link of the Kernel 105 indicates to theContent MC 106 that its Container is the MetaContainer MC 107, thus theMetaContainer MC has knowledge of itself, it now knows that itsContainer is itself, it knows it contains itself. The role of a RelationRC is also to identify, by its Affiliation, the Contents of itsParentContainer. Thus, this first Link 105, called Re-Entering InitialLink, identifies the MetaContainer MC, in other words the Systemconstructs with this fourteen-Link Kernel.

But the information identifying the Relation RC-MC and specifying whichis its ParentContainer and its ChildContainer is not explicitlydescribed, the Kernel is not yet totally self-described. At leastthirteen Links are required to express the missing information.

It is necessary to define a RelationsContainer (FIG. 48), called R. TheLink “2” indicates to the RelationsContainer R that its Container is MC.The Link “2” identifies the RelationsContainer R. The RelationsContainerR needs a ParentRelation RC-R (FIG. 49) to indicate to its Contents thattheir Container is R. The Relation RC-R identifies through itsAffiliation Links the Contents of the RelationsContainer R. The Contentsof the RelationsContainer R are Relations used to create thisfourteen-Link Kernel. For the moment, the Kernel uses two Relations,RC-MC (identified by the Link “3”) and RC-R (identified by the Link“4”). But at least two ParentRelations are still needed to define eachRelation of the RelationsContainer (FIG. 50), the Relation CP(identified by the Link “5”) to indicate the ParentContainer of eachRelation, and the Relation CE (identified by the Link “6”) to indicatethe ChildContainer of each Relation. FIG. 51 illustrates the Linksnecessary to inform each of the four Relations:

-   -   the Link “7” indicates to the Relation RC-MC that its        ParentContainer is the Container MC,    -   the Link “8” indicates to the Relation RC-R that its        ParentContainer is the Container R,    -   the Link “9” indicates to the Relation CP that its        ParentContainer is the Container R,    -   the Link “10” indicates to the Relation CE that its        ParentContainer is the Container R,    -   the Link “11” indicates to the Relation RC-MC that its        ChildContainer is the Container MC,    -   the Link “12” indicates to the Relation RC-R that its        ChildContainer is the Container MC,    -   the Link “13” indicates to the Relation CP that its        ChildContainer is the Container MC,    -   the Link “14” indicates to the Relation CE that its        ChildContainer is the Container MC.

The two Containers MC and R are identified by the Affiliation Links “1”and “2” of the Relation RC-MC, and the four Relations RC-MC, RC-R, CPand CE are identified by the Affiliation Links “3”, “4”, “5” and “6” ofthe Relation RC-R. FIG. 52 replaces each of the Containers and theRelations of the Kernel by the id of the Affiliation Link thatidentifies them, thus the attributes of each Link can be fully informed.FIG. 53 illustrates the fourteen-Link Kernel without the diagrammaticrepresentation of the Containers and the Relations, and finally all isdescribed with the aid of interconnected Links. This elementaryfourteen-Link Kernel has all the described properties, it isself-described, self-sustaining and re-entering.

Consequently, a System based on such a Kernel has the ability ofcreating and containing one or several other sub-Systems, calledIntraSystems. It also has the ability to create and be contained by asuper-System, called MetaSystem. A System is not limited in a totality,it is the center from whence IntraSystems and MetaSystems develop, itdoes not depend on any other conception but that which it puts in placeto exist. The simplified representation of the fourteen-Link Kernelillustrated by FIG. 54 makes it easier to understand whatMeta-Intra-Systems are. FIG. 55 illustrates the creation of anIntraSystem “iS” and of a MetaSystem “mS”: the Container “MC” is theMetaContainer of the System “S”.

The System “S” creates an IntraSystem “iS” by creating the new Content“iMC”. The Content “iMC” represents the MetaContainer of the IntraSystem“iS”. With the MetaContainer “iMC”, all the Links necessary to a Kernelallowing the “iS” IntraSystem to be autonomous are created.

The System “S” creates a MetaSystem “mS” by creating all the necessaryLinks of a Kernel allowing this MetaSystem “mS” to be autonomous. TheContainer “mMC” represents the MetaContainer of the MetaSystem “mS”. TheMetaContainer “mMC” contains the MetaContainer “MC” (in the same way asthe MetaContainer “MC” contains the MetaContainer “iMC”).

A Forty-Four-Link Kernel

FIG. 56 illustrates a forty-four-Link Kernel. This is the fourteen-LinkKernel enriched with a new Container “W”. The Contents of W are words,they are used to name the Containers and the Relations. To make for aneasier reading, the diagrammatic representation of the Containers isduplicated on the left (=ParentContainer) and on the right(=ChildContainer), so as to place all the Relations at the center of thefigure. The MetaContainer MC is defined by an additional Relation: theRelation “MC-Name”, allowing a name to be attributed to the Kernel'sContainers. The RelationsContainer R is defined by an additionalRelation: the Relation “R-Name”, allowing a name to be attributed to theKernel's Relations. The words' Container W is defined by the Relation“RC-W”, the diagrammatic representation of a Kernel enriched from thefourteen-Link Kernel requiring that each Container be represented by aRelation RC. This Kernel is made of three Containers, seven Relationsand ten Words, which are respectively identified by the AffiliationLinks of the Relations RC-MC, RC-R and RC-W.

FIG. 57 illustrates a decluttered representation of the forty-four-LinkKernel. Five words, identified by the Links “45” to “49”, are alreadyadded to the Container W in order to name the Containers and theRelations useful for the creation of a Model A-B, illustrated by FIG.58. FIG. 59 illustrates a possible Links table allowing the Links usefulfor the creation of the Containers of the Model A-B (meta-information)and of its Contents (information) to be stored. The column “P”references the ParentContent, the column “id” identifies the Link andrepresents its temporal attributes, the column “C” references the Link'sContainer, the column “E” references the ChildContent, a temporal cursor108 simulates the passing of time. FIG. 60 illustrates the whole of theLinks added sequentially to the table once the creation of the Model A-Bis finished. FIG. 61 illustrates these same Links added in the Kernel.

The Links that pertain to the meta-information: a first Container iscreated (Link “50”), it is named “A” (Link “51”). A second Container iscreated (Link “52”), it is named “B” (Link “53”). A Relation RC iscreated (Link “54”), its ParentContainer is the Container “A” (Link“55”), its ChildContainer is the Container “MC” (Link “56”), it is named“RC-A” (Link “57”). A Relation RC is created (Link “58”), itsParentContainer is the Container “B” (Link “59”), its ChildContainer isthe Container “MC” (Link “60”), it is named “RC-B” (Link “61”). ARelation is created (Link “62”), its ParentContainer is the Container“A” (Link “63”), its ChildContainer is the Container “B” (Link “64”), itis named “R-AB” (Link “65”).

The Links that pertain to the information: two Contents are added to theContainer “A” (Link “66” and Link “67”). Three Contents are added to theContainer “B” (Link “68”, Link “69” and Link “70”). The Contents of “A”and the Contents of “B” are connected (Link “71”, Link “72” and Link“73”).

The storage of the meta-information is not external to the process, itis also achieved by Links, as the storage of the information itself. TheLink's temporal attributes make it possible to keep the history of anymodification made to the information and to the meta-information, i.e.to the contents and informative containers describing information.

The Links represented by the Links table are physically stored in aLinks Base, optimized for this purpose, but the Links table could bestored in a table of a conventional database. In order to access theSystem's information, one would then use database queries. It is howeveralso possible to store Links on any kind of suitable data carrier, forexample in a RAM or ROM, in a combination of different memories, bydistributing it in a network, etc., and in any format, including asbinary data, in the form of files, for example of XML file, ofcollection of structured documents, etc. It would also be possible tostore it on several distinct carriers and to store for example staticLinks, notably Kernel Links, those that represent static information, ina ROM whilst the Links representing dynamic information are stored forexample on a hard-disk, a RAM or another carrier allowing writing. Cachemechanisms and/or additional indexes can be provided to furtheraccelerate processing to the Links most frequently accessed.

The machine (Links Base) enabling the information, i.e. the Links, to beaccessed will then be constituted for example of a computer system builtaround a conventional microprocessor, or of a dedicated integratedcircuit, including an FPGA circuit, an asic, or any type of integratedcircuit or set of integrated circuits capable of processing Links. In apreferred embodiment, the machine allows the parallel processing, forexample the writing, deleting or editing, of several Links, and therestoring of complete set of Links.

The Kernels described here above constitute only examples of Kernelsenabling self-described, self-sustaining and re-entering Systems to becreated. The one skilled in the art will understand that it is possibleto modify these Kernels and to describe System with the aid of differentKernels. The nine-Link Kernel, for example, is defined only with the aidof Relations, the notion of Container of the fourteen-Link Kernel (FIG.51) is not explicit. As it is possible to deplete the nine-Link Kernel(FIG. 45), it is also possible to deplete the fourteen-Link Kernel byadding an intermediary Container defining the type of Relation and hencearrive at a thirty-three-Link Kernel.

One considerable advantage of the inventive method is to allow theinformation to be at the same time the meta-modeled and theintra-modeled and thus a response to the modeling of complex structuresto be provided. The modeling is not limited by a floor or by a ceiling,but it can grow and develop from the middle. It is therefore possible todevelop a Model by defining certain Containers and/or Contents that willbe made more precise hereafter (intra-modeling) and/or placed in a moreglobal context (meta-modeling).

The method allows information to be meta-modeled, in other words theinformation to be globalized, on an indefinite number of levels. Higherlevels of description add knowledge on lower levels. Different forms ofmeta-modeling are possible:

-   -   Globalization by simple over-grading. According to FIG. 62, i.e.        a set of Containers “A”, “B”, “X” and “Y”, meta-modeling allows        the simple over-grading of the Containers “A” and “B” in a more        global context, so that they become the Contents of the        Container “X” (see FIG. 63 for the detail of the Links).    -   Globalization by multiple over-grading. The example of FIG. 64        shows that the Container “B” undergoes a multiple over-grading        by the Containers “X” and “Z”, so that the Container “B” can        inherit simultaneously from “X” and from “Z” whilst the        Container “A” can inherit only from “X”.    -   Globalization by assembly. According to FIG. 65, the Contents of        the Container “A” are elements useful for the assembly of the        more global elements that are the Contents of the Containers “X”        and “Y”.

The method also allows the intra-modeling of information, in other wordsthe specialization of information, on an indefinite number of levels.Lower levels of description add knowledge on higher levels. Differentforms of intra-modeling are possible:

-   -   Specialization by multiple inheritance. According to FIG. 66,        i.e. a set of Containers “A”, “B”, “X” and Y”, the Content “a”        inherits the ParentRelations of the Container “A” such as the        Relation “AB”. The Content “a” is then specialized as being also        a Content of “X”, it inherits both ParentRelations of the        Containers “A” and “X” (see FIG. 67 for the detail of the        Links), but the other Contents of “A” do not inherit from “X”        and the other Contents of “X” do not inherit from “A”.    -   Specialization by simple inheritance. According to FIG. 68, i.e.        a set of Containers “A”, “B” and “Y”, the Content “a” inherits        the ParentRelations of the Container “A”. The Content “a” is        then specialized as being a Content of “X”, it inherits        ParentRelations from “X”, but can also inherit ParentRelations        from “A”, as well as all the other Contents of “X”.    -   Specialization by transformation. According to FIG. 69, i.e. a        set of Containers “X”, “Y” and “B”, the Content “A” inherits the        ParentRelations from the Container “X”. The Content “A” is then        specialized by being transformed into a Container “A”. The        Container “A” is also specialized by its Contents (see FIG. 70        for the detail of the Links).    -   Specialization by segmentation. According to FIG. 71, the        Contents of the Container “A” are segmented and composed of more        specialized elements than are the Contents of the Containers “X”        and “Y”.

There are two approaches, contrary and complementary, to apprehend themodeling of a complex problem. Intra-modeling rests on a top-downapproach, from the global to the detail, which allows the information tobe made more precise. For example, a Container “Shape” is defined withthe attributes necessary for representing circles and rectangles andthen, when triangles are required, it will be seen that the Container“Shape” should preferably be specialized by different Containersspecific to each shape.

Conversely, meta-modeling rests on a bottom-up approach, from the detailto the global, which allows the information to be replaced in a widercontext. For example, the Containers “Round”, then “Rectangle” aredefined, and when triangles are later required, it will be seen that itis preferably to globalize these different Containers by a Container“Shape” which regroups the attributes common to all shapes, such as“Thickness of the contour”, “Color of background”, etc.

The method allows an evolutive and dynamic modeling, which does notrequire everything to be defined from the start. All modifications madeto the structure of the information are themselves stored in the form ofLinks, and are thus reversible and retraceable. The atomization of thewhole information by Links makes a dynamic re-organization of theinformation in different structures easier.

The method's modeling abilities allow the information to be markedsemantically on several levels. Entering information into a System meansautomatically enriching it with additional meta-intra-information, itmeans adding a semantic meaning to this information. By comparison withthe relational model, entering a word into a column of a table does notgive this word any additional information and does not give it anymeaning. The method, on the contrary, gives a Content the knowledge ofits Container, which has the knowledge of its ParentRelations, of itsChildRelations, of the whole of its Contents, of its own Container, etc.

In the example illustrated by FIG. 72, creating a new Content 109automatically enriches this content with the intra-information:

-   -   “Word” 110 by the Content “Blackbird” 111 over the Link 112 of        the Relation “Name” 113,    -   “Singular word” 114 by the Relation “Number” 115 on the        Container “Grammar” 116, and with the meta-information:    -   “Bird” 117, and its “Description” 118 by the Content 119,    -   “Vertebrate” 120, and two other categories of vertebrates that        are the “Reptile” 121 and the “Fish” 122, and the “Definition”        123 of Vertebrate by the Content 124,    -   “Animal” 125, to which the “Invertebrate” 126 also belong,    -   “Organism” 127, and two other categories listed under Organism,        being “Plant” 128 and “Virus” 129.

One advantage of the inventive method is to avoid duplication ofinformation. By way of example, the word “Blackbird” 111 as well as eachword used in the System is identified only once, it is only identifiedby a Link, it is constituted by a unique arrangement of characters,which are only identified by Links. It is easy to interrogate the LinksBase to find all the Links having a reference to a Link identifying aparticular word, and to find all the Containers that use this word. Inthe same way, it is possible to model a postal address with the aid offsome Relations on the Containers indicating the street name, thelocality and the country, . . . . A particular postal address is thenuniquely identified by a Link. The method makes any information uniqueand constituted of unique information, thus the information isrepresented with a higher degree of encoding, and information redundancyis very low and not very predictable.

Furthermore, it is possible to share the Model “Postal Address” indifferent Systems, for example in different companies, that could inserttheir own Contents, share them, or publish them. The method renders allmeta-information unique and made of unique meta-information.

The low redundancy of the information brings performance gains, sincethe quantity of information to be transmitted between machines isreduced. Moreover, it is easy to detect the static Links that are neveror only seldom modified. These static Links can be duplicated on clientmachines in order to reduce the transactions with a remote Links Base todynamic information only. One thus avoids superfluous reloading ofalready known Links. Furthermore, the method can give the information atemporal validity, which prevents superfluous reloading of remoteinformation.

Information searching is carried out preferably with the aid ofSelections. The atomization of information by Links simplifies theintegration of a continuous

Selections propagation mechanism. FIG. 73 illustrates a simple Selection“A”: a Selection is a set of Choices 130, one Choice being the“selected” state of a Content of a SourceContainer 131. The choices ofthe Selection “A” propagate towards a TargetContainer 132 throughRelations chains 133, and transform into Impacts (Impact A), an Impactbeing the “selected” state of a Content connected to a Choice orconnected to an Impact. The Choices 130 constitute the criteria of asearch, or the parameters of a filter. The Impacts 134 of aTargetContainer 132 represent the result of a search or of a filter.

The propagation of Selections is said to be “continuous” because it actslike an electric current that propagates through the Links. The currentgoes through as long as the Links exist or are activated. Making orunmaking a Link between two Contents acts like a switch that propagatesor interrupts the electric current resulting from a Choice or relayed byan Impact, so that the System checks nearly instantaneously the Impactspropagated by a Selection.

The Selections are multiple, the method has an indefinite number ofSelections. Selections are modeled: the SourceContainer, the Choicesmade, the graph of Relations through which they propagate, can berepresented by a Model, in other words the Selections are thusrepresented by Links and are stored like Links. A new Selection is thencreated by adding a new Content in an appropriate Model, which amountsto creating a certain number of Links.

In order to build more elaborate queries or filters, it is possible toeffect logic operations on the Impacts resulting from differentSelections. FIG. 74 illustrates two different Selections, “A” 135 and“B” 136 resulting from different SourceContainers 137 and 138 thatpropagate their Choices 139 and 140 towards a TargetContainer 141. TheImpacts 142 resulting from the choice of the Selections “A” and “B”undergo a logic operation, represented here by a gate AND 143. Theresult of the logic operation 144 is used to determine the Choices 145of a new Selection “C” 146, called Logic Selection, whoseSourceContainer 141 corresponds to the TargetContainer 141 of theSelections “A” and “B”. A Logic Selection acts like a Selection, it canpropagate its choices 145 towards other TargetContainers 147 and be usedto build other Logic Selections. All the logic operations are possible:NOT, OR, NAND, NOR, OR, NOR. The Logic Selection of FIG. 74 can berepresented by a different notation illustrated by FIG. 75. For example,it is possible to use a Logic Selection based on an “AND” operation suchas that illustrated by FIG. 74 to find the family name 147 of thepersons 141 living on a certain street 137 “and” having a certain firstname 138.

It is also possible to use complex Selections, for example integratingSelections whose Impacts change only if the Choices are maintainedduring a sufficient period of time, or derivative Selections whoseImpacts depend on the speed of change of the Choices. It is alsopossible to use integrating Logic Selections whose result (the Choicesresulting from the logic operation at the gate exit) changes only if theentry conditions are verified during a sufficient period of time orderivative Logic Selections whose result depends on the frequency ofverification of the entry conditions.

The Selections and Logic Selections allow rules to be created. Forexample, FIG. 76 illustrates the following rule: “The Persons 148 thatare neighbors of another are those that live at the same Address 149”.Hence, the Persons that are neighbors of the Person P1 are the PersonsP2 and P3, since these three Persons live at the same Address A1. TheSelection “Sel 1” 150 designates by its Choices 151 the Persons whoseneighbors one wishes to find. These Choices 151, namely the Person P1,propagate onto the TargetContainer Address 149 and constitute theImpacts 152 feeding the entrance to the gate 154 of the Logic Selection“Sel 2” 153. The resulting Choices 152 propagate towards theTargetContainer Person 148 and feed by its Impacts 155 an entrance ofthe OR gate 157 of the Logic Selection “Sel 3” 156, the other entrancebeing feed by the Choices 151 of the Selection “Sel 1” 150. Theresulting Choices 158 of the logic operation show the neighbors P2 andP3 of the Person P1 initially selected 151 through the Selection “Sel 1”150.

Logic Selections are modeled: the Choices made, the Relations throughwhich they propagate, the type of logic gate used, the Selectionsconnected at the gate entrance, the exit Selection, the Container towhich the gate is connected, etc., can be represented by a Model, inother words by Links. Thus, the Selections can be stored permanently inorder to render continuous the verification of rules or of conditions.The result of a query or of a filter is thus updated dynamically whenmodifications are made to the Choices of a Selection (for example,changing a search criterion), to the type of logic operation to beperformed, or to the Selections connected at the gate entrances (forexample the modification of a query), or simply to the informationconcerned by the propagation of the Selection. Furthermore, if the Linksare provided with temporal attributes, it is easy to verify a conditionor retrieve the results of a query at a given time.

The Logic Selections allow the creation of combinatory logic circuits bycombining Selections and logic gates. The Selections and LogicSelections can also be implemented by means outside the System, forexample by software and/or hardware modules allowing the conditions onthe Links of the System to be verified.

The temporal attributes of the Links allow the information to be managedin multiple temporal contexts. FIG. 77 illustrates diagrammatically aplurality of time cursors enabling the state of a System 159 atdifferent instants to be verified. The System 159 comprises a pluralityof Links 160 represented by rectangles placed on the time axis. Forexample, a Link active between t1 and t2 is represented by a rectanglewhose width extends from t1 to t2.

One or several time cursors can be associated to a period 161, in otherwords to a time interval. The width of the period corresponds to a timeinterval placed on the time axis, and in which an activity is done orobserved. The height of the period schematizes the whole of the Linksnecessary for describing this activity. A Link can of course beconcerned by one 162 or several 163 periods, the black part of the Linkindicates the period by which it is concerned.

In this example, the time cursor 164 enables the state of the System atthe real time “rt” to be checked. It is for example possible to defineSelections that extract information and execute queries in real time,according to the position of the time cursor 164. A second time cursor165 enables the state of the System, and the impact of Selections, atthe passed time “t1” to be checked. A third time cursor 166 enables thestate of the System and the impact of Selections at a future time “t2”to be predicted. The Links whose activation starts in the futurerepresent for example the meetings in a diary, the planning of events oractions such as the organized sending of emails, the broadcasting of aradio or television program. Links activated or created in the futurecan also be obtained by extrapolation, projection or by simulation. Itis of course possible to provide any number of time cursors to launchqueries, propagate Selections, activate filters, this at any time.Furthermore, defined time cursors can move at different paces, forexample:

-   -   Continuously, with a time-lag ΔT relative to real time, where ΔT        can be lower than, equal to or greater than 0.    -   By jumps (for example by time slots, days, weeks; according to        the frames of a video signal; synchronized according to a        sampling frequency; etc.).    -   According to a master time cursor that acts as reference for        other time cursors.    -   At any speed (slowed, accelerated, stopped, jerky, etc.).    -   Depending on the commands of a user or of an external signal.

A cursor can move inside its period, or else a period can follow themovements of a cursor. It is also possible to define master periods andslave periods that follow the movements of their master period, forexample to increment automatically a set of periods each year.

The time cursors thus enable time shifting functions to be integratedinto the System. When a flux transmitted in real time (for example a TVprogram) is watched, it is possible to interrupt the watching whilst theincoming flux is stored. It will then be possible to consult theremainder of the shown flux either slightly differed or at a slightlygreater speed to catch up the delay; the recording continues whilstreading proceeds. Hence, it is possible to put on “Pause” differentparts of the System, or even the whole System (for example to analyzeand resolve splutters and malfunctions, to optimize mechanisms, toanalyze in detail the momentary state of any information), and thencatch up the real time. The information can also be visualized in slowor accelerated motion to locate changes in apparently static data oranalyze a flux of information that is too fast. A time cursor enablesthe information visualized to be filtered by its period and thus excludea considerable mass of useless information by showing only theinformation concerned by that period. The method allows all theinformation necessary to the creation of a System to be processed bysequences of Links that are made and unmade at the rhythm of cursorsthat advance on the time axis; the System works like a sequencer, it isthus particularly suitable for managing any kind of sequences.

It is also possible to clean a Links Base to reduce the necessarystorage space by allocating to a time cursor the role of sweeping thedistant past in order to delete the most ancient Links, those that havebeen inactive for a long period of time, those that are orphans and/orthose that answer different criteria. The time cursors further enable apartial or complete state of a System at a given passed instant to besaved. It is possible to allocate to a time cursor the role ofperforming an incremental save; if the backup machine is momentarilyunusable, the cursor stops, it starts again as soon as the service isavailable again and will progressively find again the position relativeto real time it initially occupied. The time cursors give thepossibility of integrating automatic and successive updates alwaysallowing ancient information to be read and edited with previousversions of the System.

The set of attributes that defines the behaviors of the temporalcontexts (time cursors and periods) is preferably represented by aModel, the time contexts can thus also be organized with the aid ofLinks of the System.

The Links described so far are constituted of passive data structures.It is however also possible within the frame of the invention to provideLinks constituted of active and autonomous logic units, capable forexample of requesting processing time to perform operations on its ownattributes of ordering and sorting, of Selection propagation, ofsolicitation frequency, of trust and plausibility coefficient, ofsynaptic weight, of ranking etc. An active Link can also self-store,examine itself, instantiate other Links, etc.

The Systems described so far always comprise a Kernel, i.e. a set ofLinks giving the System the described properties of re-entry,self-descriptiveness, recursion and self-sustainability. Organizinginformation by means of collections of Links deprived of Kernels orprovided with incomplete Kernels is however possible within the frame ofthe invention.

The inventive method is adapted for representing, processing and storinga wide variety of known information structures. The method's modelingfaculties are capable of representing for example data structuresorganized by a relational model, by temporal databases, by an objectmodel, by XML files, by graphs, by semantic networks, by unstructuredfiles constituted of headers and followed by records, by sequences, etc.Hence, these modeling faculties enable a System to import informationfrom other formats or from information modeling, displaying or managingsystems and to export information processed by a System to otherformats, information modeling, displaying or managing systems, inasmuchas the latter are capable of accepting its structures. Other possibleapplications of the method concern for example:

-   -   The conception of operating systems: in this case the method        notably makes it possible to index globally all available        information, to reduce their redundancy, to return to a previous        version or to easily update versions, and to offer more        sophisticated statistic search and analysis tools.    -   Robotics and machine control: by opening the sequencer        integrated to the System to industrial peripherals by creating        Links to designate signals or commands.    -   Embedded electronics: thanks to the low redundancy of the        information managed by the System, to the small size of the        Kernel required for initiating the System and to the advanced        abilities of navigating in time.    -   Search engines: thanks to the advanced identification of        information processed by a System, to the semantic marking        afforded by the method, to the Link structure made in particular        of references on its Container and the Contents it connects, to        the possibility of easily creating continuous requests, rules        and filters via the Selections, to the integration of methods        allowing ranking indices to be established that easily take into        account a temporal and self-adapting time adjustment.    -   Artificial intelligence: by Markov and neuronal network models.        A network of synapses can be represented by the Links of a        System, for example by allocating a synaptic weight to the        Links. Thanks to the possibilities of easily analyzing the        history and making projections in the future, the method is also        capable of easily adapting and automatically modifying the        weighting given to the Links.    -   Fuzzy logic: the Impacts of one or several Selections can be        accounted and trigger the propagation of a new Selection as soon        as a sufficient number of Impacts, or a sufficient “impact        weight”, has been reached.    -   Object-oriented databases: the method makes it possible to store        each piece of information (and meta-information) created and any        modification made to this information simply by Links and is        thus suitable for solving continuity problems of objects in        object-oriented databases.    -   Designing graphical interfaces: that are adapted and take        advantage of the method's technological assets.

The inventive method affords notably the following advantages:

Storing 1) The method processes information with a high level ofencoding, since each information container or information content isuniquely identified by a Link. 2) The method allows similar sequences ofinformation to be identified and thus compression mechanisms to beautomated, and hence the information to be communicated with a lowredundancy, by not very predictable information sequences. 3)Communication is reduced to only dynamic information, i.e. to the Linksthat frequently change, because static Links can be replicated on theclient machines. 4) Communication is also improved because the Links'temporal attributes give the information validity in time, which avoidssuperfluous reloading of remote information. 5) The very highinformation encoding level allows it to be encrypted efficiently; asingle Links allows complex information to be identified, it is thuspossible to make the transmission of information illegible by encryptingonly certain Links or by having them transit through a secure channel.Furthermore, the interception of some isolated Link identifiers iswithout information content for anyone who does not have a replicadefining the context in which these Links are transmitted. 6) The Linksis the method's storing unit, its fixed-size data structure makes itpossible to interrogate the Links Base with a set of simple andrepetitive requests, thus to improve the speed of access to the storedinformation and optimize the engine of the Links Base. 7) Storing themeta-information is not external to the system.

Organization 8) The method allows several levels of meta-modeling byglobalizing the information into more general assemblies and byover-grading. 9) The method allows several levels of intra-modeling byspecializing the information into more detailed segments and byinheritance. 10) The method allows a modeling through the middle, byletting it grow towards the global and towards the detail, on severallevels. 11) The method allows heterogeneous information, of differentstructures and types, to be regrouped. 12) The atomization of theinformation processing by Links enables the method to represent manyformats and complex structures. 13) The atomization of information bynon-segmented Links allows an evolutionary and dynamic organization ofthese structures.

Searching 14) The method enables all information to be markedsemantically, several times and on several levels. 15) Furthermore, anyinformation has knowledge of the information that uses it, of whichcontainers it belongs to, and of other information with which it isconstituted. 16) The method builds requests, filters and rules, consultsand retrieves information with the aid of multiple selections thatpropagate from one Link to the next in a continuous fashion. Forexample, the continuous propagation of the selections makes it possibleto constantly update the results of a search, independently of themodifications and of the dynamic evolution of the information and/or ofthe search criteria. 17) New entered information is identified by a Linkand the whole of the Links is indexed in the Links Base. 18) The methodenables a global temporal indexation.

Analysis 19) The Link's temporal attributes give the method theadvantage of keeping the trace and the history of any modification,adjunction or deletion of information contents and containers. Analyses,statistics of other information processing require a history. 20) Theentire state of an information system based on the method and/or theinformation it processes can be retrieved at any instant. 21) Differenttemporal contexts allow a system to be used simultaneously and indifferent instants from the past to the future. 22) The method is suitedfor extrapolation, projection and simulation of information.

1. Information processing method comprising: using a plurality of Linksfor storing and processing information, each Link having a datastructure comprising at least one unique identifier specifying said Linkand three references on unique Link identifiers, all of the Links beingconnected to one another, wherein at least one Link corresponds to aRelation which servers to represent a Container, the Contents of whichare Links, and wherein at least one Relation, called Relation RC, servesto represent a Container identified by the identifier of said RelationRC and having Contents identified by the identifiers of each of theLinks contained by said Relation RC.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereineach Link represents at least one Content, said three referencesdesignating respectively: the identifier of a Container Link thatcontains said Link, the identifier of a Link representing aParentContent, and the identifier of a Link representing a ChildContent,said Link connecting the ParentContent to the ChildContent.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein at least one Link is re-entering, so that areference to said Link on the Container Link is equal to the identifierof the Link.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the Container Link, orthe Container Link of the Container Link, or the Container Link of theContainer Link of the Container Link, or any number of container linkschained together, of each Link is constituted by a single Link.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the identifiers of certain Links correspondimplicitly to data.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said structurefurther comprises temporal attributes indicating a beginning, an end, orboth a beginning and an end of at least one period of activation of theLinks.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein said structure comprises atleast one field allowing each Link's own attributes to be stored.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said Links are stored in a Links Base andwherein all the information is processed by creating, modifying, and/ordeleting, or both modifying and deleting Links stored in said Links Baseor in several Links Bases.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein saidstructure comprises at least one reference designating an external dataoutside said Links Base.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said uniqueidentifier of the Link and said three references all have the samedigital data format.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein said structureis stored by lists, tables, graphs, triplets or objects.
 12. The methodof claim 1, wherein said structure is identical for all Links.
 13. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said structure uses fixed-size data formats.14. The method of claim 1, wherein said Relation associates aParentContainer to a ChildContainer, so that each Link contained by saidRelation connects, by the references onto a ParentContent and aChildContent peculiar to each Link, a Content of the ParentContainer toa Content of the ChildContainer.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein eachContainer is defined by one or several Relations, called ParentRelationsthat are the Relations of the ParentContainer designating eachContainer.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein a Content is created in aContainer by creating a Link for each of the ParentRelations required ofthe Container.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the Relations are theContents of a Container called RelationsContainer, which is defined inrecursive fashion by ParentRelations that the RelationsContainerprecisely serves to define.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein aparticular set of Links forms a Kernel, said Kernel being only describedwith the aid of Links and allowing the System to boot.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein said Kernel is constituted by the enrichment of a 9-or 14-Link Kernel or by the enrichment of a 9- or 14-Link Kernel, saidKernel containing itself.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein said Linksare stored in a Links Base defining a System, said System having thecapacity of being self-described, of being identified by a Link, ofcontaining itself, of containing one or several sub-Systems calledIntraSystems and of being contained on one or several super-Systemscalled MetaSystems.
 21. The method of claim 1, wherein at least certainLinks represent an active and autonomous logic unit, capable ofrequesting processing time to perform various operations.
 22. The methodof claim 1, wherein all of the information entered or deleted by theusers is accomplished by creating or modifying or deleting the Links.23. The method of claim 1, comprising a step of creating and ofpropagating continuous Selections in order to verify Boolean conditionson the tested Links.
 24. The method of claim 1, wherein the methodprocesses all of the information with links.
 25. Information processingmethod comprising: using a plurality of Links for storing and processinginformation, each Link having a data structure comprising at least oneunique identifier specifying said Link and three references on uniqueLink identifiers, all of the Links being connected to one another,wherein at least one Link corresponds to a Relation, known as aContainer, the Contents of which are Links, wherein the Relations arethe Contents of a Container called RelationsContainer and which isdefined in recursive fashion by ParentRelations that theRelationsContainer precisely serves to define.
 26. The method of claim25 wherein said RelationsContainer defines the Contents of theRelationsContainer, in other words the Relations of theRelationsContainer, by at least two ParentRelations: the Relation CPdesignating the ParentContainer of a Relation, and the Relation CEdesignating the ChildContainer of a Relation.
 27. The method of claim25, wherein the method processes all of the information with links. 28.Information processing method comprising: using a plurality of Links forstoring and processing information, each Link having a data structurecomprising at least one unique identifier specifying said Link and threereferences on unique Link identifiers, all of the Links being connectedto one another, wherein said Links are stored in a Links Base defining aSystem, said System having the capacity of being self-described, ofbeing identified by a Link, of containing itself, of containing one orseveral sub-Systems called IntraSystems and of being contained on one orseveral super-Systems called MetaSystems.
 29. The method of claim 28,wherein the method processes all of the information with links.
 30. Acomputer program product containing a computer program instructiondesigned to execute by an information processing method so when executedby a computer causes a processor to perform a method comprising: using aplurality of Links for storing and processing information, wherein eachLink has a data structure comprising at least one unique identifierspecifying said Link and three references on unique Link identifiers,all of the Links being connected to one another, wherein at least oneLink corresponds to a Relation known as a Container, the Contents ofwhich are Links, and wherein at least one Relation, called a RelationRC, serves to represent a Container which is identified by theidentifier of said Relation RC and having Contents being identified bythe identifiers of each of the Links contained by said Relation RC.